Marion Barry for mayor! That’s right, it’s time to resurrect the Mayor for Life. Bring back Hizzoner. How about if we let him stand in for a few months just to right the District’s listing ship?
I float this apostasy because the current roster of leaders are a weak and feckless bunch, especially alleged Mayor Vincent Gray. Even a semi-independent local government needs strong leadership. We have none.
Let’s begin with the executive branch. The Home Rule Act of 1974 created a government where most power resides in the executive. It’s called a “strong mayor” system. Vince Gray lacks the muscle to be a strong mayor. He’s an extremely smart and swell and well-meaning fellow, but a strong mayor, he ain’t. Collegial, yes; fearsome, absolutely not.
I’m not even sure Uncle Vince wanted to be mayor. I suspect that his friends, such as Lorraine Green and Vernon Hawkins, might have pushed him to run. What I know to be true is that challenging Adrian Fenty was not Gray’s idea. A deliberative and conciliatory sort, he was happy as council chairman. Vince Gray had no burning desire to lead the District of Columbia.
As for the bossy Ms. Green, she joined other strong women such as Jerry Mason Hall and Judy Banks to build the Gray government by hiring friends, family members and the now famous Sulaimon Brown, the erstwhile mayoral candidate now at the center of a federal investigation into Gray’s own campaign. Did Gray know his personnel aides were stuffing their kin in the government? That his campaign aides were allegedly paying off Brown to badmouth Fenty? A strong man in charge would have known.
Gray’s clarion call to lead his troops is “One City,” short form for “We should all get along.” Since when did Kumbaya become a call to arms? Hugs, perhaps, but “man the barricades to fix the city?” Not so much.
I suspect that “One City” really means Gray intends to move more services and government offices east of the Anacostia River, to Gray’s home turf, at the expense of the city’s white, western wards. There’s talk, for example, that Gray might close the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Georgetown, so residents living west of Rock Creek would have to renew their licenses and handle other chores downtown or at Penn Branch, east of the Anacostia. So — one city based in Ward 7? If “One City” is code for moving even more services east of the Anacostia, just say so.
Marion Barry always made it plain, too plain at times. He thumbed his nose at reporters if he didn’t like what they were writing; he wouldn’t even speak with me. He would tell Congress to take a hike if its members trod on District turf. He belittled federal prosecutors, notably Joe diGenova, if they threatened to investigate him.
True, Barry was personally flawed. His 16 years as mayor were ultimately disastrous for the city, and he was often strongest only for his cronies. But I prefer a strong leader, even a flawed one, over an empty chair.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
